Vague Visages’ The Teachers’ Lounge review contains minor spoilers. Ilker Çatak’s 2023 movie features Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch and Eva Löbau. Check out the VV home page for more film reviews, along with cast/character summaries, streaming guides and complete soundtrack song listings.

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Throughout the long-spanning history of films and TV shows set in schools of all kinds, the rigid and often confining environments serve as backdrops for stories about breaking free — about finding individuality and discovering oneself. After all, school is something we’ve all been through; a formative moment in our lives that, for better or worse, contributed to shaping us into the people we eventually become, whether we like to admit it or not.

As the very title of The Teachers’ Lounge suggests, though, oftentimes the fate of adolescents is decided away from the students and parents themselves. In director Ilker Çatak’s take on the schooling system, fate is decided behind closed doors. One bad test grade is made to spell out inevitable failure in life. The veins of hushed words and gossip blur the lines between truth and fiction.

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Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch), however, is not like the other middle school teachers at her institution. While the educator strictly follows the curriculum to a tee, she truly believes in her students and wants to stand up for what’s right. After an accusation of theft by school administrators, Carla takes it upon herself to figure out the truth. Tensions only further escalate as she finds her students and fellow teachers slowly turning against her and Oskar Kuhn (Leonard Stettnisch), one particularly promising youth. 

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Germany’s submission for the Best International Film Category at the 2024 Oscars aims to critique the way schooling systems often suffocate creativity and free thought among its students. With dashes of dark humor, unnerving tension and a striking lead performance centering it all, The Teachers’ Lounge uncomfortably builds to claustrophobia in a real domino effect.

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Çatak keeps The Teachers’ Lounge in a sea of ambiguity to great effect. The director is less interested in giving a way out through revealing the real theft, allowing the story to simmer between ethical lines and morality. Things just keep going wrong… and wrong… and then more wrong. As Carla begins to doubt her initially sure-fire proof as to the thief’s identity, all of the forces around her seem to close in with no remorse.

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The confining 1.37:1 aspect ratio further serves to make the audience feel just the way that Carla does. Aside from an intense exterior scene, The Teachers’ Lounge consistently stays inside the school building throughout its tight 94-minute runtime. There’s no life outside of the focal environment — and that’s very intentional through Judith Kaufmann’s compact cinematography. Marvin Miller’s simple but always building score is also a terrific source of tension; the use of violin plucking is particularly effective and ominous.

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Through all of the ensuing chaos, though, Carla ultimately remains committed to the truth and seeing Oskar’s full potential. The sheer power and empathy shown in Benesch’s lead performance cannot be overstated. The actress allows viewers to track her character’s emotional journey as anger and an undeniable feeling of helplessness slowly stew inside. With nowhere to go during moments of tremendous stress, Carla is left to grasp for the rare glimpses and moments of stillness. She’s constantly navigating what the right thing to say is around other school officials while keeping her values at the forefront. Benesch portrays Carla’s moments of hesitancy with the right amount of subtlety, like when she’s being interviewed for a newspaper article and contemplates saying more before walking away.

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The only real moment when Carla is allowed to let loose is when she tells her students to scream as loud as they can. Of course, the moment is really meant for Carla herself. Audiences can feel her emotions as she lets go, one of the few scenes in The Teachers’ Lounge when the protagonist is free to just exist outside of the accusations hurled toward her. But it’s also a short-lived moment: Carla just as swiftly returns to her class, and thus can never fully escape from the accusations.

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The character writing at the center of Çatak and Johannes Duncker’s clever screenplay places viewers fully in Carla’s perspective. The script’s only real pitfall is knowing when to bring the story to a close. With such strong momentum in pacing, The Teachers’ Lounge comes to an abrupt stop that never fully hits.

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A story like The Teachers’ Lounge could’ve easily been twisted into a morality lesson. But Çatak gives viewers the tools to draw their own conclusions and perhaps re-contextualize past teenage experiences at school. Because of this approach, The Teachers’ Lounge has a real impact and gravitas that can’t easily be shaken.

Matt Minton (@6MattMinton14) is a dedicated writer, freelance film critic and journalist with a love for all things film and television. They are currently pursuing a degree in Writing for Film, Television and Emerging Media with minors in Advertising, PR and Marketing Communications and Writing from Ithaca College. Matt currently writes for The Rolling Tape and Geek Vibes Nation with past bylines in Film Updates and Cinema Solace.

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